


The Case of the Missing Aftershave

by Laramie



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 10:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7972990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laramie/pseuds/Laramie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thomas's aftershave is missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Case of the Missing Aftershave

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking about a how-to-shave vid I watched yesterday and that fic where Jimmy accidentally wears Thomas's shirt by CosmicZombie and then they merged in my mind and this happened.

Jimmy wouldn't be able to remember, when asked, why he had gone into Thomas's room at all.

And he _was_ asked. Alfred had seen him going through the door when Mr Barrow was still downstairs reading the paper one evening. And when Thomas mentioned to Jimmy after breakfast the next morning that he seemed to have mislaid his aftershave, Alfred must have overheard and told on Jimmy. This Jimmy deduced from the fact that in their smoke break, Mr Barrow asked him about it.

"Alfred says he saw you going into my room last night," Thomas said, once Jimmy had lit his cigarette with the end of Thomas's.

"Um," was all Jimmy managed to say, overcome with panic.

"You didn't happen to notice if my aftershave was still on my dresser, did you?" Thomas went on, and Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief. Thomas didn't suspect him, he was just treating him as a possible witness. A way of getting a better handle on the timeframe of when it had gone missing.

"No idea," Jimmy said lightly. "I don't really make a habit of cataloguing your wash-things."

"No, 'course not," Mr Barrow agreed. "Just thought I'd ask." He was lost in quiet contemplation for a moment. Jimmy took the opportunity to try to calm himself. "What did you want in there, anyway?"

This was when Jimmy realised he had no earthly idea why he had gone into Mr Barrow's bedroom when he knew that he had just left Mr Barrow downstairs. He fumbled for a plausible lie; "I think I wanted a book."

"You think?" Thomas repeated, with one of those gentle, lopsided smiles that made his eyes twinkle. Jimmy saw them very rarely. "It was only last night."

"Yeah, well… I didn't find any I wanted," Jimmy deflected. "So don't come to me when you realise you've lost a book too."

He knew it was unlikely that he could have already forgotten the reason for his visit. And yet it was true. The only thing Jimmy remembered with any clarity was uncorking the bottle of Thomas's aftershave, taking a sniff, and immediately becoming so hard he had had to shove the lid back on, close his eyes and count to a hundred before he was in any fit state to cross the corridor to his own bedroom.

It was good aftershave, that was all. Jimmy spent his money on drink and sweets and horses, whereas Mr Barrow's only real outgoings were his cigarettes and newspapers - and he earned more than Jimmy, too - so Jimmy couldn't afford the kind of nice aftershave that Thomas bought.

And it reminded him of Thomas.

But he hadn't thought too deeply about that.

In fact, he tried very, very hard not to think about it at all.

He didn't think about it when he put a dab of aftershave on his pillow. He didn't think about it when he let a single drop fall onto the inside of his wrist. He didn't think about it as he went about his days in a fog of arousal and essential oils. He definitely didn't think about it when he started stroking Thomas's aftershave onto his cheeks, watching himself in the mirror and imagining Thomas doing the same.

"Maybe it's time to admit you lost it and buy a new one," Jimmy suggested about two weeks after the incident.

Thomas had turned over every inch of his bedroom, enlisting Jimmy's help to move the furniture in case the bottle had rolled out of sight underneath something. He had attempted blackmail and bribery on at least 70% of the staff (the others, he simply hadn't got to yet). And he had been borrowing Jimmy's aftershave while the search went on.

They smelled like each other. It was very confusing.

Thomas hadn't noticed. Jimmy had tried very hard not to stand too close to him since beginning to use Thomas's aftershave, to avoid just such a situation.

Thomas was in Jimmy's bedroom doorway now, waiting for Jimmy to pass over his aftershave for Thomas's morning ablutions. He was still in his undershirt. Jimmy still hadn't got used to seeing him like that. He could see Thomas's _arms_ , for god's sake. They were… compelling.

"Maybe you're right," Thomas said, in answer to Jimmy's suggestion. "I don't want to use up all of yours."

Jimmy took a step more than he had meant to when he approached to put the bottle in Thomas's hand. Thomas's fingers closed around it, but Jimmy didn't let go, leaning in closer and breathing in deeply. His nose against Thomas's neck, he said: "Just make sure you get the same one. You don't smell right, usin' mine."

"Right…" Thomas agreed vaguely.

Jimmy still hadn't removed himself from Thomas's person. He clutched his aftershave tighter.

"'Sfunny, it smells different on you," Thomas said. "It smells more like -" He broke off and pulled back to look at Jimmy strangely.

Jimmy gazed back at him and tried to look innocent.

Striding past him, Thomas went to Jimmy's dresser and rifled through the contents scattered over the top.

A sense of inevitability was settling over Jimmy, and so he said and did nothing, even when Thomas found the right drawer and his hand emerged with his own aftershave. Thomas turned to him, holding up the little glass bottle.

"You took it." Thomas sounded more puzzled than anything. "Why did you take it?"

Jimmy didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to cross the room and take the bottle out of Thomas's pliantly confused hand and spill a little of the oily substance onto his fingers. So he did. Then he looked up at Thomas and spread the aftershave over Thomas's stubbly cheeks and neck, covering the trace scent of Jimmy's own aftershave still lingering from the previous day.

Thomas merely watched while Jimmy caressed his skin.

It was only now that Jimmy became aware of the reason behind his need to put Thomas's aftershave on him. It meant that he could now lean in close, holding Thomas's wrist to make sure he didn't back away, and fill his nostrils with the scent of both of them together. He wasn't at all sure that the smells worked as a pair, but it was the implications of it - the two of them mingling - that he liked. "Yes," he whispered, and pressed his lips against Thomas's neck. "You should smell like this, always. Both of us."

"What are you talking about?" Thomas asked unsteadily, but his free hand had come up to rest gently on Jimmy's back.

Easier than words, were actions. Jimmy slowly kissed his way from Thomas's neck, over his jaw bone, to the corner of his mouth, at which point he let go of Thomas's wrist in favour of linking his hands behind Thomas's beautiful neck.

"Please say you still like me," Jimmy begged, so close that their lips brushed when he spoke.

"How could I stop?" Thomas murmured, and his tongue emerged to touch Jimmy's bottom lip.

Jimmy dropped butterfly kisses on Thomas's mouth, keeping it light, trembling with every reciprocal movement Thomas made. He had somehow got himself exactly where he wanted to be, despite not knowing what he was aiming for. "I'm sorry I stole your aftershave."

"What are you going to do to make it up to me?" Thomas asked, his hand sliding down to Jimmy's arse, and Jimmy found himself arching into Thomas's body.

"Anything you want."

 


End file.
